The Changes in Math Curriculum

Math curriculum has changed in the United States. Until the early 1960’s behaviorism was the predominant view in all subject areas. Soon after the launch of Sputnik by the Soviets, Americans realized that we were behind in mathematics and our curriculum was the blame. This lead to the development of a new curriculum for those students headed for a career in math or science. This new curriculum was the called the “New Math”. This new math focused on abstract and conceptual. Many people did not like this new math. So math returned back to the “old drill and practice” until the end of the 1970’s. In the 1970’s cognitive science pushed the behavioral approach to the side. Today the battle still rages on. Some believe that if the old curriculum worked then, it will work now. Others say that we need a new math for the new times.
The bahavioristic approach believed that when learning occurred “bonds” were formed between a stimulus in the environment and a r...